On the 22nd of November, 2014 Shenpen celebrated ten years in action by holding a fund raising event during Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s fall seminar teachings at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery,

This year’s celebration was an important time for us to reflect on some of the successes and challenges we have faced over the last ten years.  We are particularly proud of the continually high attendance at the skills training provided to women living in rural areas delivered by the Women’s Cooperative Society. After participating in the training, women often report an increased sense of confidence, skill level and many report an increased level of income.

Additionally, Shenpen continued its efforts working with Mata Tirtha Old Age Home (MT), which takes care of 20 elderly women between the ages of 66 and 100 who are neglected from their home and society.  MT offers free accommodation to the women, so to help ensure a good quality of living, Shenpen feels privileged to support the cost of food for Mata Tirtha Old Age Home.

The proceedings started in the morning with a display table at Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s seminar where many of you became “Friends of Shenpen”. Then, we hosted a lunch for all of the monks and seminar attendees where we presented a brand new video about our work (coming soon to the website, stay tuned!) and thanked Rinpoche for his support and guidance over the past ten years.  We also enjoyed delicious cake from G-Caf.

Later that evening, we hosted a party with live music during which two wonderful bands performed: All My Friends jazz trio and Rohit and the Ramailo Bunch. We ran a raffle, a silent auction, and a live auction with lucky winners taking home exciting prizes such as dinner for two at the Hyatt and round trip airfare to Pokhara, an overnight stay at Tiger Mountain in Pokhara, and a two night stay at Sapana Lodge in Chitwan. We also had some beautiful artwork and pashmina shawls to auction. Thank you so much to all of our donors of these prizes–each rupee goes to support Shenpen’s work.

We hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with us. Here’s to the next ten years of Shenpen!

Shenpen thanks all of our friends and well-wishers for their valuable support and donations at the event

The generous support of the following individuals made this event possible:

Barbara Datson  (C.H.A.N.C.E For Nepal), Tashi Delek Germany, Thelma Mckay, Wendy Luu, Heidi Koch, Boon Ngoei, Dominic Lee, Erica Merritt, Elizabeth Hoke, KatrinKaufer, Johannes Kern, Leonie Luterman, Ulli Olvedi, Michele Larocque, John Makransky, Morten Øvrebø, Tine Høisgaard Jørgensen,Arlene Reiss, Patrick Deason, Deborah Berry Shepherd, Kenneth Tiede, John Mills, Angela Carley, KatrinKaufer, Line Toft, Poul-Erik Juhi, JoshnaMaharjan, Alexis Brooks, Michael and Helen, Ellen Anderson Holt, Kathy Abrams, Charlotte Carlson.